Norfolk Teen Dies Fleeing State Police

Trying To Cross I-64

April 12, 2000|By MATHEW PAUST Daily Press

NEW KENT — A 16-year-old Norfolk youth was hit by a car and killed while fleeing State Police early Tuesday on Interstate 64 in New Kent County.

State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller identified the victim as Thomas A. Wylie. Geller said Wylie had jumped from a van and was running across the interstate when he was struck by the car. The van had stopped after "stinger spikes," deployed by State Trooper R.A. Havasy Jr., deflated its tires.

Geller said a 15-year-old Norfolk youth, who was a passenger in the van and who also ran from the scene, was arrested nearly eight hours later at a nearby rest area. The youth was not identified because of his age. She said that according to the youth, the van is owned by his parents.

The pursuit started in James City County around 12:30 a.m., said Geller, when Trooper S.D. Maki noticed the van driving erratically in the westbound lanes, near the New Kent County line about two miles west of the Route 30 exit. The van driver failed to heed Maki's roof lights, and continued westward toward New Kent, she said.

The chase reached speeds of up to 90 mph, police said.

Trooper Havasy deployed the stinger spikes across the westbound lanes in New Kent about a mile west of the Route 155 overpass, and the van, its tires punctured by the spikes, stopped about a mile beyond that point.

Both occupants of the van "immediately bailed out and ran through the wooded median toward the eastbound lanes," she said, adding that while the 15-year-old made it, Wylie was hit by a 1992 Pontiac Grand Am, traveling in the right lane. Wylie died at the scene.

The youth was arrested after a search by State Police and New Kent Sheriff's deputies, using a State Police tracking dog, Geller said.

She said the rest area was about a half-mile from where the van stopped.

State Police were still attempting to determine where the teens were headed and why they refused to stop for Trooper Maki.

Norfolk juvenile authorities were holding the 15- year-old on a detention order, but as of Tuesday evening had not charged him in connection with the I-64 incident, Geller said.

Mathew Paust can be reached at 229-2854 or by e-mail at mpaust@dailypress.com